Comments on: James Burke on the tubes

James Burke on the tubes

YoBananaBoy — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:29:41 -0800

James Burke does Youtube. A very conscientious fan has begun creating a wonderful collection of two of James Burke's shows on youtube. There are many episodes up and more to come of both Connections and The Day The Universe Changed. Catch them while you can.

By: oh pollo!

oh pollo! — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 01:14:58 -0800

Connections was amazing. A real edge-of-your seat documentry.

By: homodigitalis

homodigitalis — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 01:48:18 -0800

James B. rulez! Compared to all that Discovery and History Channel crap this guy really can explain things and make connections. It is a shame that there is only one James Burke ... and one Adam Curtis and one Richard Attenbourogh and one Jacques Cousteau ... Go and suck some pure Burke [torrents] here and here.

By: chrominance

chrominance — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:08:59 -0800

The day TLC stopped airing old repeats of Connections was the day TLC died. To think they used to show Friday night marathons of the good stuff back when I was a kid. I would've stayed up all night watching The Day The Universe Changed and then watched them again when they would repeat the run before the children's programming at 6am. And now they show tattoo parlour reality shows and god knows what else. To think that I thought A Wedding Story was as bad as it got. Kick in the face to whoever made the fateful decision to sail TLC into the maelstrom of reality television.

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:15:38 -0800

I think I got taken to the cleaners for something on the order of $300 for the first season of Connections on DVD, a couple of years ago. So I suspect these videos won't be on youtube long :-/

By: The Salaryman

The Salaryman — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:28:53 -0800

These programmes were crucial to my understanding of, well, everything and my intellectual development as a child. Had the books for the shows as well. A while back I saw some low budget, more recent version of 'Connections' (Connections '3') or something and shuddered when I realised that you do need some decent production values to be taken seriously today. I wonder if the fact these are not on DVD has something to do with rights issues and the copyright goons? Much like 'Eyes on the Prize'?

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:56:59 -0800

Salaryman: The three Connections series are avalible on DVD

By: Turtles all the way down

Turtles all the way down — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 03:28:28 -0800

Oh, this is wonderful! I've been wanting to introduce my daughter to Connections. Thanks YoBananaBoy.

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 03:46:59 -0800

In case you missed it, here's a review of the Connections videogame.

By: well_balanced

well_balanced — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 04:01:48 -0800

Definitely a candidate for most intelligent television ever. Besides, Burke's leisure suits from the early years are awesome.

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 04:05:36 -0800

"In 1420, we found a new way of painting that helped give us in the modern world the ability to navigate our ships to a precise landfall anywhere on earth - or on another planet." love it! :)

By: Lentrohamsanin

Lentrohamsanin — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 04:26:12 -0800

"And later in our program James Burke will demonstrate a fantastic new power source, by sticking a solar cell down the back of his trousers..."

By: wehrlebyrd

wehrlebyrd — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 05:30:20 -0800

Both shows used to be on Clickcaster.com as podcasts as well, but the links aren't working now. Good commute fodder! :)

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 05:39:19 -0800

A real inspiration for me as well. He brought amazing insight to the way people behave when faced with problems -- always with th understanding that inventions needed to solve problems at hand were usually more earth-shattering than "announced breakthroughs".

By: The Salaryman

The Salaryman — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 05:52:48 -0800

Cheers, Harlequin! Now I wonder when The Day the Universe Changed will be on disc as well.

By: jmccw

jmccw — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:11:10 -0800

FYI: Simplest Youtube download link generator

By: magwich

magwich — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:24:12 -0800

This is great - thanks. Our grade 10 history teacher spent a semester just showing us Connections.

By: destro

destro — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:34:30 -0800

The last episode of Connections is this all consuming overview of the philosophy of science which should be required watching by all.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:38:54 -0800

Truly, the Best of the Best.

By: wfrgms

wfrgms — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:40:45 -0800

Also on bittorrent.

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:15:03 -0800

The Day the Universe Changed is one of the great bits of television, ever. James Burke proves 1 + 1 = 3, and then he blows your mind!

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:31:52 -0800

Oh my! Let me add my name to the list of folks whose understanding of history was completely altered by being exposed to Connections in my youth. Discovery Europe used to show amazing documentary series after I got home from school to about dinner time and I would camp out in front of the TV and soak it all in. So many of my intellectual loves stem from that block of programming. James Burke had a pretty great column in the back of Scientific American for some years.

By: taliaferro

taliaferro — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:36:14 -0800

Thanks everyone - I really appreciate the kind words.

By: acro

acro — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:39:30 -0800

!! I for one welcome James Burke to metafilter.

By: acro

acro — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:44:35 -0800

James Burke was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland and currently resides in London...

By: jscott

jscott — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:48:32 -0800

When I was working on my documentary about Bulletin Board Systems, I spent some time in pre-production asking friends and associates what kind of film they thought it should be or how it should be presented. One of my friends simply said "Make it like Connections". I hadn't seen Connections and asked what it was like, and he said "Go watch Connections and make it like that." I tracked down a place where I could buy copies of the show on DVD for $100, and bought it. My two reactions were that it was totally fantastic, and that there was no way I could possibly do my film that way. But out of that came my introduction to Connections, and that made it all worth it. Great, great stuff. And the DVDs I bought had performance rights attached! I can enlighten people to it forever! Come on by!

By: taliaferro

taliaferro — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:51:24 -0800

I also don't write crime fiction about a Louisiana PI named Dave Robicheaux...sorry acro.

By: acro

acro — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:53:24 -0800

Thanks for all the links everybody.

Burke gives careful attention to the role of accident in human history. In his opening pages, for instance, he writes of the invention of uniform coinage, an invention that hinged on some unknown Anatolian prospector's discovering that a fleck of gold rubbed against a piece of schist--a "touchstone"--would leave a mark indicating its quality. Just so, we owe the invention of modern printing to Johann Gutenberg's training as a goldsmith, for his knowledge of the properties of metals enabled him to develop a press whose letterforms would not easily wear down. With Gutenberg's invention, Burke notes, came a massive revolution in the European economy, for, as he writes, "the easier it is to communicate, the faster change happens." Amazon Audiobook Paperback

By: aramaic

aramaic — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 08:09:51 -0800

These two series changed my life in ways I can barely describe. ...and so, for the first time ever, I feel really really bad about ripping a video. Which sucks, because I really really really want to have these. Well, I guess it gives me a gift I can ask for come Christmas!

By: Heywood Mogroot

Heywood Mogroot — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:05:38 -0800

Just on the strength of memories watching Universe in the mid-80s I spent $100++ for Connections 1 a couple of years back. Earlier this year I was very happy to see that netflix has Connections 2 & 3 (but not 1, oddly). . . Funny story: taking my History of Technology class at college, the prof had this question in the intro lecture: "What technological development was the most significant?" Thanks to Burke I had watched the year before on PBS, I answered, "The steam engine." He then asked me which one. And again, thanks to Burke, I replied, "Watt's improved engine."

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:19:31 -0800

Keener.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:37:00 -0800

I learned more from these shows than from 12 years of public schooling. Thanks.

By: JWright

JWright — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:43:24 -0800

Connections and Universe are among the all-time greats. If you haven't seen them, you truly have missed something special. Thanks for the post!

By: ntartifex

ntartifex — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:21:07 -0800

Huzzah! Let's see how long this stays up, though. I grew up in the proverbially "bad home" and James Burke effectively became my babysitter. (Weekend marathons w00t!) So I owe a lot of my mental development and education to the fellow. My favorite episode has to be the one that connected the Black Death to higher literacy, with the quinine episode running a close second. PS. Why did TLC change their entire programming focus? As interesting as Alaskan crab fishing and the science of ninjas may be, I miss the old shows.

By: acro

acro — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:25:06 -0800

All the nerds got broadband.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:07:18 -0800

Oh my god, this is great. I have gone through the first season of Connections this winter and while I feel that the second season (much later, shorter episodes) pales by comparison, the whole thing has just made me into a huge fan. Thanks for this post.

By: plinth

plinth — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:06:26 -0800

James Burke was responsible for me not closing my mind to history. He presents it in a way that is palatable and works with my logical mind. When I was teaching, I used sections of it for backdrop in a technology course. Interestingly enough, Burke does not have a huge science background. He was primarily a Latin scholar, but like so many of the accidental boons in his series, someone thought he was right for the job. It also shows what a well-educated mind can do. He was a keynote speaker at a PBS fundraiser in San Jose in the 90's. When the opportunity came up to attend, I was quite happy to hand the cash over to get tickets. Way better than a tote bag.

By: smich

smich — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:23:50 -0800

I am oh so glad that my afternoon at work is slow. This is one of my all-time favorite shows.

By: jiawen

jiawen — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:04:33 -0800

Some of the connections are kinda reaching... "Chester Hoonhorn's invention was also used in France during the 16th century, and at the same time Joe Foonboon was working next door in Germany on something completely different..." And I think, if I may draw what may be an unnecessary dichotomy, that Cosmos has had more influence on me. But Burke's shows are still some of my favorites. I still dream of his drawings in chalk on barrel-bottoms to illustrate Kepler's laws.

By: sindark

sindark — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:14:04 -0800

Weren't these shows made by the BBC using taxpayer money? If so, they should be available online for free anyhow - at the very least, to people in the United Kingdom.

By: darksasami

darksasami — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:24:05 -0800

It is a shame that there is only one James Burke ... and one Adam Curtis and one Richard Attenbourogh and one Jacques Cousteau ... I think you mean David Attenborough.

By: acro

acro — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:58:50 -0800

tinyurl for the playlist page.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 16:00:44 -0800

Has anyone else tried the James Burke Institute's Knowledge Web? I've bookmarked it for now, figuring I'll come back to it on a rainy day.

By: acro

acro — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 17:13:12 -0800

List of directors

By: munchingzombie

munchingzombie — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 19:30:11 -0800

Thank you for posting this. Now if only The Ascent of Man was available online.

By: lazaruslong

lazaruslong — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:06:37 -0800

I'll be honest, I had never heard of this man or seen his programs. Now I am completely hooked, and I cannot stop watching. He seems like such a scientific badass! I mean, going up in a hot air balloon apparently by one's self?? Crazy. Thank you so much for this post.